OurFish

The catches made by small-scale fisheries have often been over-looked in national data collection programs due to their apparent small catch per boat, the geographic isolation of coastal communities, and the diversity and decentralized nature of the fisheries themselves. However, small-scale fisheries make significant contributions to national fisheries production and local food security providing important employment opportunities to coastal communities. Understanding how these communities utilize marine resources and the pressure exerted on marine biodiversity across the seascape is vital for effective fisheries management and the design of conservation strategies such as managed access and fully protected reserves.
Traditional recording methods are often met with a lack of capacity to collate and analyze data, leading to backlogs and data dumping with little feedback to the community. This is a fundamental barrier to understanding a fishery and one which the OurFish app addresses simply and effectively. Data collected underpins decision-making, dramatically improving management efficacy and delivering new enforcement capabilities. Data allows communities to easily identify species that are targeted most frequently and monitor how these catches change over time helping to recommend the implementation of community-led management to re-focus attention on different areas and different species to allow those of highest pressure to recover.
Data can also assist in providing recommendations for managing resources with the potential to establish protected areas to help ensure the integrity of critical marine habitats and ecosystems along with strengthening national capacity in fisheries management at both government and local community levels.

MANAGEMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
Replaces traditional recording methods and formalizes the data collection, analysis, and dissemination pipeline without becoming a burden to the buyer.
Users become part of the solution to fisheries management and contribute to the progress towards sustainable fisheries.
Characterizes fishing activity, social economic status, project impact metrics and other relevant information on different fisheries.
Allows communities to easily identify species that are targeted most frequently and monitor how these catches change over time.
Enables a paradigm shift in the way marine resources are managed and conserved at eco-regional scales helping to solve pressing marine conservation challenges.
Strengthens national capacity in fisheries management at both governmental and local community levels.
Provides recommendations for managing resources with the potential to establish protected areas.
Data feeds into models for marine reserve design giving a ‘before & after’ perspective regarding fishery production and associated income.

FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
Recording transactions formally are a centrepiece to trade.
Performance-related transactional information.
Collects transaction data that will help fishers and buyers analyze their business for profit maximization.
Transaction history will ease the process to access financial services for business and family.
Keeping records of business transactions and events eliminates the need to rely on memory and remember details.
Over time, recorded business transactions become financial statements.
Financial statements help to monitor the progress of the business.
Financial statements help to analyze the business; income, expenses, and cost to maximize profits.
Preparing and understanding financial statements will ease the process to access financial services.
Accessing traditional financial services will have a positive impact on the business and livelihoods of fishers and buyers alike.
Business analytics provides more efficient, profitable fishing and better allocation of time.
Helps to bring down the trust barrier of the financial system, one of the biggest obstacles for financial inclusion.